Walker made a dismissive gesture. “The magic contained in the books, the magic I spoke of to both Allardon Elessedil and his son, was never the reason for this voyage.”
“Then what was?” Truls Rohk was incensed. “Are we to play guessing games all night, Druid? What are we doing here? Tell us! Has this all been for nothing? Give us something to hope for! Now, while there’s still time! Because I don’t think you have much left! Look at you! You’re—”
He couldn’t make himself finish the sentence, biting off the rest of what he was going to say in bitter distaste.
“Dying?” Walker spoke the word for him. “It’s all right to say it, Truls. Dying will set me free from promises and responsibilities that have kept me in chains for longer than I care to remember. Anyway, it’s only a word.”
“You say it, then. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Walker reached up with his good hand and took hold of the other’s cloak. To Bek’s surprise, Truls Rohk did not pull away.
“Listen to me. Before I came to this land, before I decided to undertake this voyage, I went into the Valley of Shale, to the Hadeshorn, and I summoned the shade of Allanon. I spoke with him, asking what I could expect if I chose to follow the castaway’s map. He told me that of all the goals I sought to accomplish, I would succeed in only one. For a long time, Truls, I thought that he meant I would recover the magic of the books from the Old World. I thought that was what I was supposed to do. I thought that was the purpose of this voyage. It wasn’t.”
His fingers tightened on the shape-shifter’s cloak. “I made the mistake of thinking I could shape the future in the way I sought. I was wrong. Life doesn’t permit it, not even if you are a Druid. We are given glimpses of possibilities, nothing more. The future is a map drawn in the sand, and the tide can wash it away in a moment. It is so here. All of our efforts in coming to this land, Truls, all of our sacrifices, have been for something we never once considered.”
He paused, his breathing weak and labored, the effort of speaking further too much for him.
“Then what did we come here for?” Truls Rohk asked impatiently, still angered by what he was hearing. “What, Druid?”
“For her,” Walker whispered, and pointed at Grianne.
The shape-shifter was so stunned that for a moment he could not seem to find anything to say in response. It was as if the fire had gone out of him completely.
“We came for Grianne?” Bek asked in surprise, not sure he had heard correctly.
“It will become clear to you when you are home again,” Walker whispered, his words almost inaudible, even in the deep silence of the cavern. “She is your charge, Bek. She is your responsibility now, your sister recovered as you wished she might be. Return her to the Four Lands. Do what you must, but see her home again.”
“This makes no sense at all!” Truls Rohk snapped in fury. “She is our enemy!”
“Give me your word, Bek,” Walker said, his eyes never leaving the boy.
Bek nodded. “You have it.”
Walker held his gaze a moment longer, then looked at the shape-shifter. “And you, as well, Truls. Your word.”
For a moment, Bek thought Truls Rohk wasn’t going to give it. The shape-shifter didn’t say anything, staring at the Druid in silence. Tension radiated from his dark form, yet he refused to reveal what he was thinking.
Walker’s fingers kept their death grip on the shape-shifter’s cloak. “Your word,” he whispered again. “Trust me enough to give it.”
Truls Rohk exhaled in a hiss of frustration and dismay. “All right. I give you my word.”
“Care for her as you would for each other,” the Druid continued, his eyes back on Bek. “She will not always be like this. She will recover one day. But until then, she needs looking after. She needs you to ward her from danger.”
“What can we do to help her wake?” Bek pressed.
The Druid took a long, ragged breath. “She must help herself, Bek. The Sword of Shannara has revealed to her the truth about her life, about the lies she has been told and the wrong paths she has taken. She has been forced to confront who she has become and what she has done. She is barely grown, and already she has committed more heinous wrongs and destructive acts than others will commit in a lifetime. She has much to forgive herself for, even given the fact that she was so badly misled by the Morgawr. The responsibility for finding forgiveness lies with her. When she finds a way to accept that, she will recover.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Truls Rohk asked. “It may be, Druid, that she is beyond forgiveness, not just from others, but even from herself. She is a monster, even in this world.”
Bek gave the shape-shifter an angry glance, thinking that Truls would never change his opinion of Grianne, that to him she would always be the Ilse Witch and his enemy.
The Druid had a fit of coughing, then steadied. “She is human, Truls—like you,” he replied softly. “Others labeled you a monster. They were wrong to do so. It is the same with her. She is not beyond redemption. But that is her path to walk, not yours. Yours is to see that she has the chance to walk it.”
He coughed again, more deeply. His breathing was so thick and wet that with every breath it seemed he might choke on his own blood. The sound of it emanated from deep in his chest, where his lungs were filling. Yet he lifted himself into a sitting position, freed himself from Truls Rohk’s arms, and motioned him away.
“Leave me. Take Grianne and walk back to the cavern entrance. When I am gone, follow the passageway that bears left all the way to the surface. Seek out the others who still live—the Rovers, Ahren Elessedil, Ryer Ord Star. Quentin Leah, perhaps. One or two more, if they were lucky. Sail home again. Don’t linger here. Antrax is finished. The Old World has gone back into the past for good. The New World, the Four Lands, is what matters.”
Truls Rohk stayed where he was. “I won’t leave you alone. Don’t ask it of me.”
Walker’s head sagged, his dark hair falling forward to shadow his lean face. “I won’t be alone, Truls. Now go.”
Truls Rohk hesitated, then rose slowly to his feet. Bek stood up, as well, taking Grianne’s hand and pulling her up with him. For a moment no one moved, then the shape-shifter wheeled away without a word and started back through the loose rock for the cavern entrance. Bek followed wordlessly, leading Grianne, glancing back over his shoulder to look at Walker. The Druid was slumped by the edge of the underground lake, his dark robes wet with his blood, the slow, gentle heave of his shoulders the only indication that he still lived. Bek had an almost uncontrollable urge to turn around and go back for him, but he knew it would be pointless. The Druid had made his choice.
At the cavern entrance, Truls Rohk glanced back at Bek, then stopped abruptly and pointed toward the lake. “Druid games, boy,” he hissed. “Look! See what happens now!”
Bek turned. The lake was roiling and churning at its center, and a wicked green light shone from its depths. A dark and spectral figure rose from its center and hung suspended in the air. A face lifted out of the cloak’s hood, dusky-skinned and black-bearded, a face Bek, without ever having seen it before, knew at once.
“Allanon,” he whispered.
Walker Boh dreamed of the past. He was no longer in pain, but his weariness was so overwhelming that he barely knew where he was. His sense of time had evaporated, and it seemed to him now that yesterday was as real and present as today. So it was that he found himself remembering how he had become a Druid, so long ago that all those who were there at the time were gone now. He had never wanted to be one of them, had never trusted the Druids as an order. He had lived alone for many years, avoiding his Ohmsford heritage and any contact with its other descendants. It had taken the loss of his arm to turn him to his destiny, to persuade him that the blood mark bestowed three hundred years earlier by Allanon on the forehead of his ancestor, Brin Ohmsford, had been intended for him.
That was a long time ago.
Everything was so long a
go.
He watched the greenish light rise out of the depths of the underground lake, breaking the surface of its waters in shards of brightness. He watched it widen and spread, then grow in intensity as a path from the netherworld opened beneath. It was a languid, surreal experience and became a part of his dreams.
When the cloaked figure appeared in the light’s emerald wake, he knew at once who it was. He knew instinctively, just as he knew he was dying. He watched with weary anticipation, ready to embrace what waited, to cast off the chains of his life. He had borne his burden of office for as long as he was able. He had done the best he could. He had regrets, but none that gave him more than passing pause. What he had accomplished would not be apparent right away to those who mattered, but it would become clear in time. Some would embrace it. Some would turn away. In either case, it was out of his hands.
The dark figure crossed the surface of the lake to where Walker lay and reached for him. His hand lifted automatically in response. Allanon’s dark countenance stared down, penetrating eyes fixing on him. There was approval in those eyes. There was a promise of peace.
Walker smiled.
As Bek and Truls Rohk watched, the shade reached Walker’s side. Green light played about their dark forms, slicing through them like razors, slashing them with emerald blades. There was a hiss, but it was soft and distant, the whisper of a dying man’s breath.
The shade bent for Walker, the effort strong and purposeful. Walker’s hand came up, perhaps to ward it off, perhaps to welcome it; it was difficult to tell. It made no difference. The shade lifted him into his arms and cradled him like a child.
Then together they made a slow retreat back across the lake, gliding on air, their dark forms illuminated by shards of light that gathered about them like fireflies. When both were encased in the glow, it closed around completely and they slowly disappeared into its brilliant center until nothing remained but a faint rippling of the lake’s dark waters. In seconds, even that was gone, and the cavern was still and empty once more.
Bek realized suddenly that he was crying. How much of what Walker had hoped to see accomplished in this life had he lived to witness? Not anything of what had brought him here. Not anything of what he had envisioned of the future. He had died the last of his order, an outcast and perhaps a failure. The thought saddened the boy more than he would have believed possible.
“It’s finished,” he said quietly.
Truls Rohk’s response was surprising. “No, boy. It’s just begun. Wait and see.”
Bek looked at him, but the shape-shifter refused to say anything more. They stood where they were for a few seconds, unable to break away. It was as if they were expecting something more to happen. It was as if something must. But nothing did, and at last they quit looking and began to walk back through the passageways of Castledown to the world above.
Seven
Rue Meridian flew Black Moclips through the last hours of night and into the first light of morning before beginning her search of Castledown’s ruins. She would have started sooner, but she was afraid to attempt anything complicated until it was light enough to see what she was doing. Airships were complex mechanisms, and flying one alone, even using the controls situated in the pilot box, was no mean feat. Just keeping the vessel airborne required all her concentration. To make out anything in the darkness, she would have had to place herself at the railing, outside the box and away from the controls. She would not have lasted long that way.
She still had Hunter Predd to help her, but the Wing Rider was not a sailor and knew almost nothing of how airships functioned. He could perform small tasks, but nothing on the order of what would be required if anything went wrong. Besides, he was needed aboard Obsidian if they were to have any real chance of finding the missing members of the company. The Roc’s eyes were better than their own, and it had been trained to search for what was lost and needed finding. For now, the giant bird was keeping pace with the airship, staying just off her sails as it wheeled back and forth across the skies, waiting for his master to rejoin him.
“No chance of persuading that Federation Commander or any of his crew to help us, I don’t suppose,” Hunter Predd ventured at one point, looking doubtful even as he voiced the possibility.
She shook her head. “He says he won’t do anything that contradicts his orders, and that includes helping us.” She brushed back stray strands of her long red hair. “You have to understand. Aden Kett is a soldier through and through, trained to follow orders, to accept the hierarchy of command. He isn’t a bad man, just a misguided one.”
They hadn’t heard anything from the imprisoned Federation crew since she had locked them away in the storeroom below. Twice she had sent the Wing Rider to check on them, and both times he had reported back that other than muffled conversation, there was nothing to be heard. Apparently the crew had decided that for the time being it was better to wait this business out. She was more than content to let them do so.
Still, it would have been nice to have help. As soon as it was light enough, she planned to send Hunter off on Obsidian in search of Walker, Bek, and the others. In a freewheeling search, he would have a better chance than she would of spotting something. If he was successful, she could bring Black Moclips close enough to pick them up. The risk to the airship was minimal. In daylight, from the safety of the skies, she would be able to see for miles. It was not likely that anything would be able to get close enough to threaten, especially now that she had control of the Ilse Witch’s vessel.
Of course, she could not discount the possibility that the witch had other weapons at her disposal, ones that could affect even an airship in flight. The witch was down there somewhere in the ruins, hunting Walker, and they might be unlucky enough to encounter her in their search. Rue Meridian had to hope that Obsidian would spy out any sign of the witch before they got close enough for her to do them any damage. She also had to hope that they would find Bek or Walker or any of the others who still lived before the witch did.
She yawned and flexed her gloved fingers where they gripped the flying levers. She had been awake for twenty-four hours, and she was beginning to feel the strain. Her wounds, even padded and sealed within her flying leathers, were throbbing painfully, and her eyes were heavy with the need for sleep. But there was no one to relieve her at the controls, so there was no point in dwelling on her deprivations. Maybe she would get lucky and find Bek at first light. Bek could fly Black Moclips. Big Red had taught him well enough. With Bek at the controls, she could get some sleep.
Her thoughts settled momentarily on the boy. No, he was not a boy, she corrected herself quickly. Bek wasn’t a boy—not in any way that mattered. He was young in years, but old already in life experience. Certainly he was more mature than those Federation fools she had been forced to suffer on the Prekkendorran. He was smart and funny, and he exuded genuine confidence. She thought back to their conversations on the flight out from the Four Lands, remembering how they had joked and laughed, how they had shared stories and confidences. Hawk and her brother both had been surprised. They didn’t understand the attraction. But her friendship with Bek was different from the ones she was accustomed to; it was grounded in their similar personalities. Bek was like a best friend. She felt she could trust him. She felt she could tell him anything.
She shook her head and smiled. Bek put her at ease, and that wasn’t something many men did. He didn’t invite her to be anyone other than who she really was. He didn’t expect anything from her. He wasn’t looking to compete, wasn’t trying to impress. He was a bit in awe of her, but she was used to that. The important thing was that he didn’t let it interfere with or intrude on their friendship.
She wondered where he was. She wondered what had happened to him. Somehow he had fallen into the hands of the Mwellrets and the Ilse Witch, been brought aboard Black Moclips and imprisoned. Then someone had rescued him. Who? Had he really lost his voice, as Aden Kett had said, or was he just pretending at it? She felt
frustrated by her ignorance. She had so many questions and no way to determine the answers without finding Bek first. She did not like to think of him being hunted down there. But Bek was resourceful, able to find his way through dangers that would overwhelm other men. He would be all right until she found him.
Hawk would laugh at her, if he were there. He’s just a boy, he would say, not making the distinction she had. He’s not even one of us, not even a Rover.
But that didn’t matter, of course. Not to her, at least. What mattered was that Bek was her friend, and she could admit to herself, if to no one else, that she didn’t have many of these.
She brushed the matter aside and returned her attention to the task at hand. The first faint streaks of light were appearing in the east, sliding through gaps in the mountains. Within an hour, she would begin her search. By nightfall, perhaps they could be gone from this place.
Hunter Predd, who had been absent for a time, reappeared at her elbow. “I took a quick look below. Nothing happening. Some of them are asleep. There’s no sign of any attempt to break out. But I don’t like the situation anyway.”
“Nor do I.” She shifted her position to relieve her cramped and aching muscles. “Maybe Big Red will reach us before the day is out.”
“Maybe.” The Wing Rider looked east. “It’s growing light. I should start searching. Will you be all right alone?”
She nodded. “Let’s find them, Wing Rider. All of them we left behind. Bek, for one, is still alive—along with whoever saved him from the Mwellrets. We know that much, at least. Maybe a few of the others are down there, as well. Whatever happens, we can’t abandon them.”
Hunter Predd nodded. “We won’t.”
He went back down out of the pilot box and across the deck to the aft railing. She watched him signal into the night, then lower himself over the side on a rope. Moments later, he flew by aboard Obsidian, giving her a wave of reassurance before disappearing into the gloom. She could just make him out through the fading darkness. Wheeling Black Moclips in the direction he was taking, she moved out of the forested hill country and over the ravaged landscape of the ruins, the airship rocking gently in the wind.